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No Retroactive Cuts To Germany’s Solar Feed-in Tariffs

Last week German Chancellor Merkel discussed the proposals of her ministers Altmaier and Rösler to reduce the cost of the German feed-in tariff system with the Governors of the German States. She needs their support in the Bundesrat for any change to the law. I recall having discussed these proposals in detail last month.

Green Member of Parliament Hans-Josef Fell reports on the results of those talks here (in German).

He notes that the proposal of retroactively reducing feed-in tariffs has been rejected completely and finally. I recall having predicted that it has no chance to pass the Bundesrat, so I see that prediction come true. But as Fell remarks quite correctly, it is already very damaging to the trust of the Federal Republic of Germany to have two ministers proposing default, even if it was clear to informed observers that their irresponsible proposal had zero chances of becoming law.

Fell then says that there have been no agreements on any other proposals. The discussions will continue until end of May. I would have expected them to agree on at least some of the ideas already on the table. Both government and opposition seem to agree on the idea of getting self-consumption into the feed-in tariff, and on slashing the special advantages large-scale users in industry receive.

Maybe any such agreement will come later in the negotiations, which will go on for some more time.

For the time being it is good news that there will be no retroactive feed-in tariff reductions. There will be no need to ask the German Federal Constitutional Court for help. This proposal has been effectively shot down by the opposition. It should never have been made in the first place.

About the Author

Dr. Karl-Friedrich Lenz is a professor of German and European Law at
Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, blogging since 2003 at Lenz Blog. A free PDF file of his global
warming science fiction novel "Great News" is available here.

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